


Two Shall Be One

by scribblemyname



Series: Comment Fic LiveJournal Stories [128]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Loki, Assassins & Spies, Community: comment_fic, Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship, Love Is for Children, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel), partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2464211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/scribblemyname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint doesn't know the keys to her kingdoms, but he knows how to silence the bones rattling in her closet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Shall Be One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Evil_Little_Dog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/gifts).



> Prompt by evil_little_dog at the LJ Comment Fic comm: [MCU, Natasha+/Clint (or +any), It's Where My Demons Hide (title by Ash'Kagan)](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/563412.html?thread=79264468#t79264468)

"Love is for children," Natasha tells Loki and Maria takes her aside later, concern furrowed between her brows, and asks if she was lying in there. It's a well-known fact that Natasha has no problem throwing herself to the (soon to be dead) wolves for the sake of a mission.  
  
Natasha just looks at her.  
  
"You're good enough for love, not just a debt." The frown is still there between Maria's eyes.  
  
Natasha just gives that bare hint of a smile that says to her friends and coworkers, _This is me, I'm fine, I've got your back, I know you have mine._  
  
Relieved, Maria lets it alone.  
  


* * *

  
"Barton told me everything," Loki tells Natasha and Fury takes her aside later, concern furrowed into a deep scowl, and asks just how much potentially compromising intel did the demigod get. It's a well-known fact that Natasha knows intimately far too many state secrets of far too many countries she worked for or brought down (or both).  
  
Natasha just looks at him.  
  
"He had the clearance for it," Fury reminds her, scowl only slightly mitigated.  
  
Natasha just throws him a faint huff of a sigh and reminds him back, "The truth is not all things to all people all the time." A material point. It's easier to deceive with a truth than a lie.  
  
Mollified, Fury lets it go.  
  


* * *

  
"You're a triple impostor, I've never seen anything like it. Is there anything real about you?" Tony demands and Natasha takes herself aside later over a nearly broken cover, anger coiled under her skin, and pounds fists and feet into her partner until she feels a bit better. It's a well-known fact that Natasha prefers to vent by sparring, not talking.  
  
Clint just lets her.  
  
Other agents wonder how anyone could accept her, could love her, if they know the horrible things she has done. Other agents assume he either doesn't know or that her reputation has been greatly exaggerated.  
  
 _Can you wipe out that much red?_ a demigod will ask her one day, and she will never bother to answer the question. Her ledger is the one real thing about her, and she gives it to Clint so he can hide the bodies. He doesn't know what her mission target was in Sao Paolo, but he knows the collateral damage. He doesn't know the backdoor hack into the KGB that Natasha used for years, but he knows how much blood she shed on their behalf. He doesn't know the keys to her kingdoms, but he knows how to silence the bones rattling in her closet.  
  
They finish their fight, their hands and eyes examine each other for injury, and they move as though they are a single person in two bodies, perfectly in sync.  
  
When he loves her, when he hates her, when they are angry, when they are hurting, when the affection burns between them like a beacon up in flames, they are partners. Only children love without condition. Only partners guard each other's lives whether they love or not.  
  


* * *

  
She is not afraid to love, to gently cradle him with her voice in the aftermath of Loki until she knows she holds his demons and they will not trouble him again.  
  
She is not afraid to hate, to kill the creature Loki made him into unless she's absolutely certain he is not that creature anymore.  
  
She is not afraid to walk away, to spend months in an empty bed, with an empty comm while she works her missions and plies her skills.  
  
"Barton's been compromised," Coulson tells her and she is not afraid to come home.


End file.
